Poeria Speedway stories and results for July 30 and 31

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BOLLINGER WINS PCRA FEATURE IN FIRST-EVER START AT PEORIA SPEEDWAY

Doubles up in Modified feature; Lance, Jr,. Barnes, Jr. and Bollinger get wins

( Peoria , IL ) It was a Bollinger triple play at Peoria Speedway Saturday night as Ray Bollinger picked up a win in his first-ever start in a Late Model, winning the inaugural visit by the Pro Crate Racers of America at Peoria Speedway. Bollinger hurried to the pits, strapped into his UMP Modified and then also won the UMP Modified feature. All of this followed a win by son Zach in the Hornets.

In his first race ever in a Late Model, Bollinger drove past Bobby Dauderman on the final lap, making the pass down the backstretch count for the $1,000 win. “I want to thank Steve Lance, Jr. for the opportunity to drive this car, it is an honor they picked me”, said Bollinger. “He (Dauberman) slid up a little there in one, so I went for it. We went into 3 and I pinched him down a little. We didn’t touch, but apparently he wasn’t happy about it. I’m so excited to win this!”.

Steve Lance, Jr. picked up his 4th win in a row in the UMP Late Models, leading flag-to-flag in a dominant performance. Bobby Pierce made a run at Lance in the closing laps, but could never get close enough to mount a serious challenge. “The guys around home gave me a hard time last time for losing to a 14-year old kid, but he is a really fast 14 year-old!”, said Lance, Jr.

Matt Dillon took the lead at the outset of the UMP Modified feature, but Bollinger drove by him on the back stretch on lap 6 and cruised to victory.

Chuck Barnes, Jr. passed Wally Zander on lap 2 and held on for the win in the Street Stock division, giving him the lead for the UMP National championship points race.

Crockett, who is in the Midwest to compete in the Knoxville, IA 360 and 410 Sprint Car Nationals over the next few weeks, was the class of the field after drawing a 5 starting spot after winning the Shake-Up Dash. Blake Nimee led the first 4 laps from his front-row starting spot, chased by Ryan Jamison. With Nimee in the middle of the track and Jamison on the low side, Crockett blasted the high-side of a perfectly prepared race track and blew by Nimee for the lead on lap 4. Nimee spun out on lap 7, bringing out a caution.

Crockett pulled away on the re-start but another caution for a Pat Moore spin on lap 13 negated what had become a large lead. On the re-start, Crockett jumped to another large lead but by lap 15 Jamison was gaining ground on the bottom of the track. Jamison pulled even with Crockett on lap 17, so Crockett changed lines to block Jamison. The final caution waved on lap 18, and the line change won Crockett the race as Jamison could never mount a serious challenge over the last 7 laps.

I saw him down there,” said Crockett of Jamison’s challenge on the bottom. “I was watching him run this track on Youtube and I knew that was what he would probably do. The car worked well everywhere. I just want to thank this great crowd for being here in this heat.”
Jamison settled for second. “That devil (Crockett) sniffed me out down there,” he said. “Then I saw Ben coming below me. I guess we’ll settle for second tonight.”

In the UMP Modified division, Dan Glover got the jump on the field at the start, with Erik Bruce taking the lead on lap 6. 10th-starting Gary Cook, Jr. had moved into 2nd by lap 8 and on lap 10 Cook began to challenge Bruce. The duo ran side-by-side for 2 laps until Cook made the pass stick on lap 12. Cook picked up the win, followed by Ray Bollinger, Bruce, Glover and Derrick Doerr.

“We only have 4 races on this car”, said Cook. “The track was excellent and Erik and I had a great race going there. It feels good to get a win here.”

Austin Archdale passed Brent Burrows midway through the Illinois Lighting Sprint feature to pick up the win. Eric Wisher held off Shane Kelly to win the UMP Hornet feature.